A lot of my techie friends are saying that the entry priced-Apple Watch Sport will be their pick next month, and not because of the exterior look. The theory is that Sport is the cheapest way to experience Apple’s new product category in 2015, and since the second-gen Apple Watch will inevitably be upgraded, why pay a premium this year for nicer materials such as stainless steel and sapphire glass?

Despite the Apple Watch’s desire to marry jewelry with technology, it hasn’t lost the baggage gadgets carry, namely the reality that they’ll be outdated and replaced in a relatively short period of time. If the Apple Watch evolves anything like the original iPad did when it became the iPad 2, the differences could be dramatic.

Personally, when I think about getting more perceived value out of a higher-priced stainless steel Apple Watch rather than testing the waters with the cheaper aluminum model, I’m more concerned with how soon the Apple Watch 2 will be announced rather than how much more functional the newer device could be. No matter what happens with the first-generation model, an Apple Watch 2 will come to market. How will Apple balance keeping the Apple Watch evolutionary momentum going with keeping the first-generation model “modern” for enough time to satisfy early adopters?

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A chart posted by Fortune showing what happened to Apple’s stock price for 12 months before and after each new iPhone launch shows that it rose after four of the six launches.

Conventional wisdom says that Apple traders buy the rumor and sell the news, but the series of stock charts Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore shared with clients Monday suggest the opposite.

The brief piece explains the exceptions by observing that the 3G launched just before a major recession and the iPhone 5 when the stock was already at an all-time high, but we wouldn’t suggest investing any money on the basis of those six squiggly lines …

Update: BTIG’s Waltyer Piecyk has posted some more short-term historical data, suggesting that the separation of iPhone announcements from WWDC ended the ‘sell on the news’ phenomenon:

The trade-in program will be marketed as the “iPhone Reuse and Recycle Program.” It will begin rolling out in select Apple Stores this upcoming Friday, August 30th. Like we previously reported, a larger-scale rollout will occur during the month of September.

The program is applicable to both standard customers and business customers that want to purchase a new iPhone.

Since T-Mobile is being cagey (likely for regulatory reasons) about the locations of its re-farmed, iPhone-compatible HSPA+ network, a group at Airportal.de has filled us in. The 3G/4G locales are submitted by iPhone 3G and newer owners (or non-AWS 4G phone users) who are seeing 3G/4G on T-Mobile. T-Mobile claims its HSPA+ network shows speeds up to 70 percent higher than AT&T’s network.

Most would assume that the currently free on-contract iPhone 3GS will discontinue with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPhone later this year, but one analyst claimed its life would go on. According to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek in a note released last night (via Fortune), Apple signed an agreement “with a major global distributor” that will bring the iPhone 3GS to pre-paid carriers and developing countries for an even cheaper price. Misek said the 3GS would be priced between the $200 to $250 range, which is cheaper than the $375 price point that it is now priced at wholesale. The analyst further estimated iPhone shipments for the June quarter.